by Wendy Knight
Laila sighed, running a hand through her wild curls. How Scout and Lil Bit had both gotten such tame hair was a mystery. “Okay, okay fine. I’ll let her go.”
Scout bounced on her toes, clapping. “Yay! I’ll go tell her!” She spun on her heel and raced from the laundry room, bounding up the stairs three at a time.
“Lil Bit?” She knocked at Lil Bit’s bright purple door. Lil Bit swung it open before Scout had even finished saying her name.
“Hi Scout.” Lil Bit said sadly, staring at the floor.
“Mom says you can go!”
Lil Bit’s face lit up. “Really? She said I could go?”
Scout grinned and nodded. Sometimes, Lil Bit knew the strangest things, things she should have no way of knowing. And sometimes she didn’t even have a clue. She’d told Scout that was just the way it worked, and Scout didn’t question it.
“Will you help me decide what to wear? And will you do my hair?” Lil Bit grabbed Scout’s hand and dragged her into the room, where they spent the next two hours getting Lil Bit ready for her birthday party. Scout wanted to warn her — pretend you don’t see it, pretend it’s not there. But she didn’t, because asking Lil Bit to be anything but whom she was felt beyond wrong.
****
She volunteered to walk Lil Bit to the birthday party. Columbia Falls was in the tippy top bit of Montana, which meant cold weather, early. But it was actually a pretty mild October. They had yet to see any snow and Lil Bit didn’t have to wear a jacket. Trey was outside, washing his truck when they passed. “Hi Trey!” Lil Bit waved. Scout looked over at him but said nothing. He was shirtless, his jeans hanging low on his hips. She swallowed and looked away, fighting the flush that raced up her neck. That boy was far too gorgeous for his own good.
He turned off the hose and tugged his shirt on as he jogged over. Lil Bit stopped, waiting, and Scout growled low in her throat but stopped too. “Hey Lil Bit! It’s been a while.” He squatted next to her.
“It has.” Lil Bit nodded solemnly and Scout hid a smile.
“You headin’ to a birthday party?” Trey flicked the end of a ribbon hanging in curls from the present Lil Bit held close to her chest.
“Yep. Scout’s taking me and then she’s coming back to work with you.” Lil Bit grinned triumphantly. Trey shot an amused look up at Scout. She shrugged. She hadn’t told Lil Bit that. Either her little sister had guessed it by the fact that Scout had her school bag slung over her shoulder, or it was just one of those things that Lil Bit knew and no one understood how.
Trey looked back at Lil Bit. “Can I walk you, too?”
“It doesn’t take two teenagers to walk three houses, Trey.” Scout sighed.
Lil Bit thwarted her efforts. “Yes Trey. Thank you.” She leaned closer to Trey, whispering, “The soul stealers are coming.”
Trey’s eyebrows shot up and now he looked harder at Scout. “They’re what’s behind the pandemic everyone’s talking about.” Scout explained.
Anyone else might have thought she was being sarcastic, but Trey squinted hard at Lil Bit. “They’re coming here?” Lil Bit nodded.
“Then let’s get you to that birthday party, should we?”
“‘Kay!” Lil bit skipped off ahead of them and Trey rose to his feet.
“You don’t need to walk with us. If the soul stealers come, I doubt very much that you would be able to stop them.” You’ll probably run off and desert us. You’re good at that. But she didn’t say it.
“You don’t think I can take a soul stealer?” Trey gave her a lopsided grin and her heart melted, but she ignored it.
“No. Lil Bit says the only thing that can take a soul stealer is a unicorn.”
Trey’s smile softened as he watched Lil Bit bouncing in front of them. “She’s always loved unicorns. So have you, if I remember right.”
“Yep.” Even more now. But you’ll never know that.
They dropped Lil Bit off and started back to his house. “Do you really believe in the things she sees?” Trey asked after they walked in silence for several seconds.
“Yes. If she sees it, it’s real. She wouldn’t lie.” Scout said firmly.
“I don’t think she’s lying. I think she believes it. I just…”
“She’s not crazy,” Scout snapped, spinning on him furiously.
He held up his hands, backing away. “I didn’t say she was.” Scout continued to glare at him, her chest heaving. “Sorry. I don’t know what I meant.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and kept walking.
Scout thought of kicking gravel at his back, really thought about it for at least ten seconds. Then she groaned in defeat and followed him.
“So I think I got most of the materials,” he said after they walked several more feet in silence.
Scout stayed behind him. “Good. Then this shouldn’t take us very long.”
He sighed, and she eyed the tense set of his broad shoulders. “Yeah.”
****
It took them much longer than Scout had anticipated, which clearly annoyed her. “I just don’t understand why this isn’t having the chemical reaction I was expecting.” She sat back from the kitchen table, slouching in her chair with her arms crossed. Pouting.
Trey paced the kitchen, tipping his head back to stare at the ceiling, trying desperately to not notice how adorable she was when she pouted. “Okay, when we built that volcano in 9th grade, what did you use to make it explode like that?”
Scout sat forward, her eyes lighting up. “Vinegar. Or baking soda. A combination, I think? Could it really be that simple?”
Trey loved it when she forgot she hated him. “I’ve got some. Wanna try?” She nodded, a grin breaking across her face, and he turned to dig through the cupboards.
“Scout? It is Scout! Liam! Scout’s here!” Trey jerked his head up, smacking it on a low shelf. He swore as he stood up, rubbing the back of his skull. His brothers were supposed to be gone all day. They loved Scout almost as much as he did.
But she didn’t hate them like she hated him.
She sat up in her chair, barely having made it to her feet before both boys barreled around the corner and enveloped her in a hug. “Scout sammich!” Tate laughed, his dark eyes sparkling.
“Good grief!” Scout gasped, “Did you two grow three feet over the last year? You’re huge!”
“Yeah we’re growing boys.” Liam let her go, snatching an apple out of the bowl on the table. “Pretty soon we’ll be bigger than Trey.” All three of them looked over at where Trey stood, still rubbing his head. His brothers looked like twins. They were only eighteen months apart, with the same dark hair, cut close and not wild like his. Same dark eyes, nearly identical face, and yes, they were catching up to him. If he wasn’t careful they’d be taller than him before he left for college.
“If you hadn’t gotten so good at avoiding our house, you would have known how big we were already,” Tate said, pushing Scout back so he could see into her face.
She blushed. “I know. Sorry.”
Tate glanced from Scout to Trey and back again. “So whatcha workin’ on? Need help?”
“No,” Trey said. He most definitely did not need help from his two younger brothers.
Scout laughed. “Science project. We can’t get our chemical to react.”
That got them. Trey grinned as they both paled, backing away like she’d cursed them. Tate grabbed an apple and they both disappeared around the corner.
“They still don’t share your work ethic, huh?” Scout asked, smiling after them. She didn’t smile that way at him.
“No. Liam starts high school next year. I’m surprised you never see Tate at school now.”
“We kind of run in different circles. I mean, I’ve seen him at school and sometimes here when I drive by, but it’s different close up.” Scout settled in her chair, tracing patterns on the granite countertop without looking at him.
And what circle do you run in? He wanted to ask her. Scout was one of the most popular girls in sc
hool but he never saw her with friends. Everyone loved her, but she avoided group activities like they’d contaminate her with some sort of deadly disease.
They worked for nearly another hour, testing different household products, until exhaustion set in and Scout started to giggle. Ever since they were little, anytime Scout was tired she acted the way most people do when they’re drunk. Apparently that hadn’t changed. When Trey brought out his mom’s hairspray, she laughed so hard she nearly fell of her chair. Trey watched her, trying to memorize it and hold it, because he knew it wouldn’t happen again. She would remember soon, and he would lose her again.
“Hairspray, Trey? Really?” She bit her lip, trying to control her giggles, but she failed.
“It might work. You never know.” He grinned at her.
Hairspray didn’t work, so they went on a mission to find something else that might. They were in the process of mixing baking soda and shaving cream when Scout’s alarm went off. “I gotta go get Lil Bit. Should we take a break for the night and do some research?” She dropped her phone into her bag.
“I’ll walk you. We can brainstorm along the way.” He grabbed his jacket, praying she didn’t object. She smirked at him as she slung her bag over her shoulder, but that was it.
They walked out the front door in silence, but it was comfortable. Maybe she’ll forgive me. Maybe she forgot how I ruined her life, Trey thought as he kicked at a fallen leaf.
“Can I ask you something?” She peeked at him from the corner of her eye.
“Of course.” His heart tried to climb into his throat.
“It’s been bugging me for a long time… I feel like if I just understood why…” she glanced at him again, quickly, and then away, wrapping her arms around herself to ward off the cold, or him — since he knew exactly what she was going to ask.
“Why?”
He stopped walking. She continued for a few steps and then stopped too, turning to look back at him. “I didn’t see the truck, Scout.” His voice cracked.
Her eyebrows clashed and she shook her head. “No, Trey. Not the truck. I know you didn’t get hit on purpose.”
“Then what—?”
“Why’d you leave? Why’d you never, not once, come visit me?” There was pain in her eyes, fresh pain, like it had happened yesterday. But he knew her well enough to see the hope there, as well. Hope that he had a good explanation, a reason to forgive him.
“Scout,” He came toward her several steps but she backed away. “You have to understand, I — I almost killed you.”
“Yeah, Trey. I noticed that part.” Her gaze dropped to the ground, studying the rocks at her feet as she nibbled her thumbnail — something she’d always done when she was nervous.
“I couldn’t look at you. I couldn’t… I couldn’t look at what I’d done to you. The guilt was too much.” His voice broke.
Her eyebrows shot up and bright pink splotches rose on her cheeks. “You…” She paused, as if unable to form the words, holding up a small hand. “…You abandoned me because you felt guilty? When I needed you most you couldn’t be there because you felt guilty?” The storminess was back in her eyes. She hadn’t forgotten, and she hadn’t forgiven him — it was all right there written on her face.
He opened his mouth to defend himself, but she cut him off before he got the chance. “Do you know how many people came to see me while I was in the hospital for three months, Trey? Like twenty, that first week. And after that, three. Three people, Trey. My mom, my dad, and Lil Bit. Not you, not ever.”
“I wanted to, Scout. You have no idea how much I wanted to be there!”
“Then you should have been!” she shouted, her hands balled into tight fists at her side.
“I couldn’t!” he yelled.
She jerked back as if he’d slapped her and he struggled to control his breathing. Without a word, Scout spun on her heel and stalked away, up the drive to get Lil Bit. He waited until they came back; Lil Bit chattering and Scout smiling like someone had flipped a switch on her fury.
“Hi Trey!” Lil Bit bounced by, skipping down the sidewalk.
“Hi Lil Bit. How was the party?”
“Stay away from her.” Scout hissed as she brushed past him.
“Scout wait. Please, just let me explain.”
“No.”
He grabbed her arm, turning her to face him. “Just give me a—”
“No. I never want to speak to you again, Trey. As far as I’m concerned, you died in that crash.” She jerked her arm from his grasp. He nearly doubled over as pain sliced through his stomach like she’d stabbed him.
“What about our science project?” He asked weakly as he watched her walk away.
She stopped and turned slowly, her eyes shooting daggers from several feet away. “I’ll fail that stupid class before I’ll work with you again.”
****
Scout faked a smile until she made it to her room, lying through her teeth to get out of dinner. She shut the door with a soft click and backed slowly away until her legs bumped into her bed. She sank down, pulling the red and black comforter around her, burrowing down into it, and then she cried, letting tears soak her cheeks and her hair while she prayed for peace, for sleep, for anything that would take the pain away. He abandoned me because of guilt. All those times he said he loved me... he was lying. If he’d loved me, guilt wouldn’t have kept him away. Guilt would have kept him at my side. She sobbed harder.
“Scout, I’m here. I brought help.” Lil Bit whispered. Scout hadn’t heard her come in, hadn’t felt her climb up on the bed next to her. But now a little hand stroked the soaked hair away from Scout’s cheek, and she felt a warmth spread toward her, seeping slowly into her aching heart until the pain was nearly a memory and her eyes closed. “Lil Bit, you’re the only good person in the world.” Scout whispered. “I wish I was more like you.”
“I’m not, Scout. Just sleep.”
Scout tried to turn to see her, but it was dark in her room and Lil Bit was only a shadow. Scout struggled to sit up and Lil Bit helped tug the comforter away, and out of the corner of her eye Scout saw a white blur, shimmering in the darkness. She turned her head toward it, disbelieving, but it was gone.
“Lil Bit?” she asked, searching the shadows.
“She’s my friend. She’s your friend, too.” Lil Bit said, and Scout could hear the smile in her voice.
Scout refused to blink or turn away, hoping to catch the glimmer of hope again. “I saw her — at the hospital. The day you told me I would get better.” Scout was suddenly very sleepy, and her eyes wouldn’t stay open as she fell back onto the bed.
Unicorn, come back.
Chapter Three
“Trey, could you come see me for a sec after class?” Mr. Zornes asked as he dropped an assignment on Trey’s desk.
He’d gotten an ‘A’, so it couldn’t have been about that. He frowned, looking up. “Yeah, sure.”
For the fifteen thousandth time that morning, his eyes strayed to Scout’s seat. Scout had missed class. She never missed class. He was torn between what he should be dreading — that she wasn’t there because of him, or that something was really wrong and that’s why she wasn’t there. And he wasn’t the only one who noticed. “Where’s Scout?” a boy in the back asked, loudly, so even Mr. Zornes could hear him. Trey glanced at him, scowling, possessive when he had no right to be.
“Who cares?” Kylin said, yawning. “Maybe she got the coma-thing. They said it’s close to the Canadian border now.”
Trey’s throat closed in horror and he just about leaped out of his seat.
Mr. Zornes caught his eye and discreetly shook his head before turning to the rest of the class. “Settle down, guys. Scout is fine. She’s no longer in our class.”
“What? Where’d she go?”
Trey wasn’t sure who had asked. He could only stare at Mr. Zornes in shock. “She had to rearrange her schedule, so she’s in a later class now. Which means, Trey, that you will be working with Da
ve and Steve for your science project.” Mr. Zornes gave him a lopsided smile. “And now I no longer need to meet with you after class.”
“He can work with me and Heidi,” Kylin called. Trey smiled back at her but prayed he wouldn’t get put in her group. They’d never get anything done.
“I think he’ll be fine with Dave and Steve, Kylin. Thanks for offering though. Let’s go over these assignments, should we?”
****
“Trey, wait! Aren’t you going to walk me to class?” Kylin jogged after him, pushing her blonde hair out of her eyes. Her natural color was black, but Trey had never seen it. She seemed to alternate between pink and blonde, and Trey pretended to like it and they were both happy.
“Sorry Ky. I have to run. I’ll see you at lunch, okay?” He leaned down and kissed her quickly before leaving her behind. He didn’t know where Scout was, but he was gifted at being able to find her no matter where she tried to hide.
He rounded the corner to the library and nearly ran her over. “You changed your whole schedule just to get away from me?” he yelled.
Scout’s eyes widened and she looked around her anxiously. The halls were mostly empty. “Yes.”
He had expected her to deny it. When she didn’t, his whole speech he’d prepared while he was looking for her fell to pieces. So he just gaped at her.
She rubbed her left temple and glared at him. “Will you move please? I have to go to class.”
He hadn’t realized he was blocking her into a corner. “I can’t believe you did this. What are you, five? We’ve been in the same classes all year with no problem.”
“No problem? We got paired together for the science fair. How is that not a problem?” she hissed, lowering her voice as a few guys from the football team walked by pounding Trey on the back.
“We weren’t having a problem. We were making a lot of progress.” Trey said.
